Browns notes: Benjamin named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week

By
Jeff Schudel, The Morning Journal & The News-Herald

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Travis Benjamin was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week on Wednesday for returning punts of 57 and 79 yards against the Bills last Thursday.
Benjamin’s nickname is Rabbit. He earned it growing up in Bell Grade, Fla., where young men pass the time catching rabbits in sugarcane fields.
“It’s nothing to it once you know the tendencies of what a rabbit’s going to do and when he’ll come out,” Benjamin said. “It’s not watching tape, but just going out there and having fun. There are cane fields, and when you burn the cane, the rabbits scatter. When you see the rabbits scatter, you go.”
Benjamin said catching rabbits is a tradition in Bell Grade, in which there are 280,000 acres of sugarcane. The Browns’ speedy receiver/returner, “the fastest man alive,” according tight end Jordan Cameron, once caught 20 rabbits in a day. But that is not the Bell Grade record.
“I saw a guy catch 60 or 70 in one day,” Benjamin said. “He was out there by himself. He was a local guy. For fun he’d go out there and catch ’em all.”
So, you want to know what Benjamin would do with them after catching 20 rabbits?
“You can catch ’em and sell ’em or catch ’em and eat ’em,” Benjamin said. “They kind of taste like pork chops to me. So it’s a great meal.”
It must be frog legs that taste like chicken.Gordon not for sale
Once again, Coach Rob Chudzinski had to shoot down rumors the Browns are talking to teams about trading wide receiver Josh Gordon.
“I’m not going to get into any specifics about rumors and all those type of things,” Chudzinski said Wednesday. “I will say we are not shopping Josh and we have no plans of trading Josh.”
On Monday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the Browns talked with the 49ers about a possible trade involving Gordon. Gordon is third on the Browns with 18 catches and second in yards receiving (303) despite being suspended for the first two games.Lions’ Johnson sits
Lions star receiver Calvin Johnson missed practice Wednesday because of a knee injury. The injury kept him out of the Lions’ 22-9 loss in Green Bay last week.
Lions coach Jim Schwartz was asked about Johnson in a conference call Wednesday and was not forthcoming.
“I’m certainly not going to tell you guys that,” Schwartz said. “We’ll see if he gets on the practice field. He had a lot of times last year when he didn’t practice and he still played in the game. We obviously want him on the field. He’s one of the best players in the national Football League.”
Johnson isn’t the only ailing Lion. Starting free safety Louis Delmas missed practice with a knee injury and starting right tackle Jason Fox missed with a knee injury. A hamstring injury kept starting cornerback Chris Houston out and tight end Tony Scheffler missed because of a concussion.Injured Browns
Defensive end Billy Winn missed practice with a quadriceps pull.
Linebackers Jabaal Sheard (knee) and Quentin Groves (ankle) were limited. Fullback Chris Ogbonnaya (head) was limited.